Vladimir Putin
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, spent time in Brussels before a meeting of the European Council to see what…
Farty, smelly and in love with Putin? You must be getting middle-aged
There are things that happen when you grow older — bad things, harbingers of death and decay. Past the age of…
Putin’s great game
In Syria, the Russian leader is on the verge of his biggest – and riskiest – coup yet
Turkey can’t cope. Can we?
There has been an influx of 2.5 million Syrian refugees, and almost as many again are expected. At this rate, Turkey’s migrant problem is set to become Europe’s
Portrait of the week
Home Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, prepared a paper on the four areas of concern between Britain…
Project Fear
Cameron will play on fears of Islamic State, Russia and crime to win an EU ‘In’ vote
Silent strongman Sergey Shoigu is the real force behind Russia’s military aggression
Sergey Shoigu is the real force behind Putin’s military aggression
Portrait of the week
Home The House of Commons voted on air strikes in Syria. Labour MPs had been allowed a free vote by…
Military action against Isis needs a coherent strategy. . . . here it is
Military action against Isis needs a coherent strategy, says a former senior commander in the British army
Obama’s failure is Putin’s opportunity
The principal strategic objective in the war on terror has been a failure. Ever since 9/11, the aim has been…
The caliphate strikes back
Isis could be on the brink of creating a terrifying new world order
How Putin outwitted the West
His cynical statecraft in Syria has run rings around Britain and America
Portrait of the week
Home In the shadow cabinet chosen by the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Exchequer went to John McDonnell, a…
Putin and the polygamists
The Kremlin is tying itself in ideological knots as it tries to make new friends in the Muslim world
Watching the next war
Nato’s beefed-up military exercises are impressive – and ominous
The Spectator’s Notes
We in the West all hate Sepp Blatter, so we pay too little attention to the manner in which the…
The empire-builders
For Nato and the EU as much as for Putin, Ukraine is a question not of virtue but of power and land
Putin’s grand strategy
The Russian President has been trying to draw a new Iron Curtain across Europe
Soviet smoke and mirrors
‘We all know there will be no real politics.’ A prominent Russian TV presenter is speaking off the record at…
Crime and cover-up — a very Russian tale
The way to think about Russia, Bill Browder told me in Moscow in 2004, using a comparison he recycles in…
High life
The good news is that a Greek suppository is about to relieve the EU’s economic constipation. The bad is that…
The new Cold War
An official end to the Cold War was declared at a summit between President George H. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev…
Bear market
The West will have to drop sanctions on Russia – or face another global economic crash
World disorder
The old cliché that ‘nothing happens in August’ has again been brutally disproved. From the centenary of the outbreak of…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told Parliament that President Vladimir Putin of Russia should end his country’s support for…
